Base cleaner



June 20, 1939. M LlEBMANN 2,162,955

BASE CLEANER Filed Nov. l, 1938 A ORNEY Patented June 20, 1939 PATENT OFFICE BASE. CLEANER..

MosesLiebmann, New York; N; Y.' Applicationnovember. 1., 19ss,.js eria1.N0. 23,8;185.

9` Claims;

This, invention, rela.tes to. meansior dusting or.

cleaningthebaseor. home plate. such .as is V,used in baseball games, and has for itsobject-theprovision of .means .bywhichthe homeplate may be ,speedily and, automaticallycleaned or dusted as required,.without requlring'manualeiort on the, part of .the-umpire. or. players.

At the .presenttime, playing the. game causes.

the. homeplate., to periodically. become covered with and. obscured byy dust and. dirt, this requiring theumpire, and often vthe players, to

occasionally. dust. off.. the.. plate with a whisk.

broom orthe likeso. that it. will. be.. plainly visible. By means of, the. present invention, the. plate may be. easily Iand.. automatically cleaned. by

merely operatinga valve tocause. an air blast to..eject.the. dust. anddirt from thetopofthe plate,y thus. greatly. simplifying, the game and lessening the dutiesA of theumpire.

embodiment of the invention .is` disclosed, Fig., l is a plan view cfa structure constructed inaccordance with the invention; Fig. v2. is a sectional.

view. on the line `.2 -2.. of..Eig, 1,y looking in. the

direction .ofthe arrows.;.Fig..3 .is asectional View similar. to.. that of. Fig. 2, except that ...it shows the base.-cleaning.V device inoperative .or working position; Fig. 4 isfasectionalyiew on the line. 4 4 ofLFig... 2, Alooking in the .direction .of the arrows;

30;., Fig. 5 is a sectionalviewthrough.the.air,va1ve,

" and` Eig. .6 isa .sectionalViewofamodied structure.,

With .reference .to .the-.structureshown in Figs. 1 to .5 inclusive, Iindicates the base, or so-called home plate asemployed ona .baseball diamond.

' The base generally comprisesa section of flat material suchas .rubber or the like andit isprovidedwith a flatupper face.8 which `is generally disposed to lie substantially flush with the :surface lof. the` diamond,.the plate being embedded or otherwise anchoredintheground. During the playing. of the game, dust and. dirt accumulates ongthetop. onupperiiatface ofthe plate, thus obscuringtheplate fromtheyiew ofthe players.

45..., and. umpire. Accordingly, `it then becomesv necitstop disposed flush with Vthe surrounding-ground.

- surface. Thecasing` is firmlyr anchored in position by being embedded in.v ablock; of f concrete I0, or .else heldimmovably in any other equivalent manner. The upper portion of the receptacle acts as a guide for an air manifold II which is mounted for movement up and down in the upper In the. accompanying drawing, wherein an.

part of the receptacle. An elongated slot I2, ora series` ofsmall slotsor holes.. is. formed in the manifold,with theopenends ofsaidslots or .holes directedtoward the base, as clearly seen in Figs. 2 `and .3. Extending downwardly. from. the lower portion of the. hollow manifold II is a number of nipplesor short pipes I3 which project into the ends of tubular. extensions III formed on an air-supply pipe. I5. The manifold is provided with several loop members I6 to which are attached-the springs .I'I havingtheirlower ends secured to loops I8 attachedtosupports I 9 in which the. pipe IS-is mounted andwhch.. extendv upwardlyfrom the bottom `of thereceptacle 9. The springsJ'I exert a downward pullupon the manifold. and hold it in. a normallyv lowered or re,- tractedposition, asshoWninFigs. 2 and 4, with its upper face flush or even slightly below` the surrounding ground surface.

The air-supply pipe I5 extendsunder ground..

to a source of compressed air., such as theftank 20, whichis-connectedby the pipe 2I to anair compresser 22. actuated by the electric motor 23. i

any other. convenientv position, andthe tank 20,.

wherever situated, is connectedto the manifold IIv by the line of piping, I5.. extending under. groundv and thus -,concea1ed,as well as protected from damage.

Interposed inthe .pipe line I5 is a valve casingy 24 enclosing the valve. 26, normally held closed. by meansiof a spring. 2 8, to shut oif communication between themanifold II and the tank 2l).l Valve 26 is provided with an upwardly projectingstem vZTI/which extendsin ,the tubular guide 28,-andis adaptedto bedepressed, when desired, by a' plunger 3i) terminatingr at its upper end in a head or button` 3I. The valve and the actuating plunger arelocated conveniently to the umpire, yet so disposed as to1be completely out of the'wayofthe. players. Theplunger 30 and. attached button 3| areremovable as a unit out of the guide 28 when desired to prevent unauthorized operation of the Valve or tampering with itat times when a game is not in progress.

From the foregoing, the operationof the de` vice will be readily understood. When the base becomes obscured by dust and dirt accumulated onztop of it during the playing. of the game, the.

I2 (or series of openings) will have its outlet raised above the upper face of the plate 1, as indicated in Fig. 3, and the blast of air emanating from the outlet I2 will be directed across the top of the plate and will blow the dust and dirt therefrom. As soon as pressure of the foot on the button 3| is released, valve 26 will close and the ilow of air from tank will cease, wheremember having a plurality of holes or apertures 3l comprising air blast openings and communieating with a chamber 38 embedded in the ground below the base and provided with a plurality of openings 39 in registration with those indicated at 31 in the base. Chamber 38 is formed with an extended nipple portion 40 coupled to the end of the pipe line I 5. With this structure, when the Valve is opened, as heretofore explained, the air blast will be directed through the aligned openings 31 and 39 and will blow the dust and dirt from the top of the base. Any dirt falling down into the chamber 38 will be blown out through the openings by the next air blast.

It will be clear that by the means shown, the base may be readily cleaned of dust and dirt by `diere foot pressure on the valve-actuating plunger so that the constant manual effort on the part of the umpire now required will be completely eliminated.

.What I claim is:

1. A base cleaner comprising an air nozzle mounted in the ground near the base to be cleaned, said nozzle having an air blast opening normally maintained below the level of the upper face of the base and directed toward the base and adapted to be raised to bring said opening adjacent the top of the base, and a source of air under pressure connected to the nozzle and adapted to direct an air blast through the opening therein to cause said air blast to blow dust and dirt oil" the top of the base. Y 2. A base cleaner comprising comprising an air nozzle mounted in the ground near the base to be cleaned, said nozzle having an air blast opening directed toward the base and mounted to permit of it being raised to bring said opening adjacent the top of the base, a source of air under pressure connected to the nozzle and adapted to direct an air blast through the opening therein to cause said air blast to blow dust and dirt oi the top of the base, and a manually-operated valve interposed between the nozzle and the source of air for controlling the flow of air from its source to the nozzle.

3. A base cleaner comprising, a housing situated adjacent to the base to be cleaned, a nozzle member within said housing, said nozzle having an air blast opening, means for normally holding the nozzle retracted within the housing and its air blast opening covered thereby, Vand means for moving the nozzle out of the housing to expose the air blast opening and direct an air blast therethrough and over the surface of the base to clean the same.

4. A base cleanerV comprising, a housing located in the ground adjacent the base to be cleaned, a nozzle member within said'housing and having its'upper end substantially ush` with the upper surface of the base, said nozzle having an air blast opening normally covered by a portion of the housing and normally maintained in a position below the upper face of the base, means for normally holding the nozzle retracted within the housing, and means for moving the nozzle out of the housing to expose its air blast opening above the surface of the base, said means comprising air under pressure which is directed through `the raised nozzle and out of its air blast opening and over the upper surface of the base to clean the same.

5. A base cleaner comprising, a movable nozzle having an air blast opening located near the base to be cleaned, means for directing an air blast through the nozzle and air blast opening, means for controlling the ow of air to the nozzle and means for closing the air blast opening when the flow of air to the nozzle is shut off.

6. A base cleaner comprising, a movable nozzle having an air blast opening located near the base to be cleaned, means for directing an air blast through the nozzle and air blast opening and over the surface of the base to clean the same, and means for closing the air blast open-v ing when flow of air to the nozzle is shut off, said last-mentioned means comprising a housing into which the nozzle is moved and which extends over and closes the air blast opening when the nozzle is moved into it, and means for moving the nozzle into said housing when the ilow of air to the nozzle is shut off.

7. A base cleaner comprising, an air nozzle near the base tojbe cleaned and normally held out of base-cleaning position, and means for supplying air under pressure to cause the nozzle to be moved by said air pressure into base-cleaning position relative to the base and to eject an air bla-st over the top of the base. v

8.' A base cleaner comprising, an air blast nozzle member located adjacent to the top surface of a base to be cleaned and normally maintained out of base-cleaning position, a source of air blast connected to said nozzle, means for moving the nozzle to a position whereby it will direct an air blast over the upper face of the base, and means for controlling the air ow from the source to the nozzle.

9. A base cleaner comprising a receptacle disposed in the ground near the base to be cleaned, a blast nozzle mounted for raising movement under air pressure and for lowering movement in said receptacle, means for normally holding said nozzle in a lowered position in said receptacle, a source of compressed air connected'to said nozzle and adapted to force air into the nozzle to cause the air pressure exerted therein to impinge against the interior of said nozzle to raise said nozzle out of the receptacle, the nozzle being provided with an air outlet opening which is exposed toward the base when the nozzle is raised `by the air pressure and out of which the air blast is directed during the time that the nozzle is raised, and valve means for controlling the ilow of air from its source to thenozzle.

' MOSES LIEBMANN. 

